WHO Experts Visit Wuhan in Virus Origins Probe

On Friday, a World Health Organization (WHO) team visited a hospital in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which was one of the first health facilities to treat people infected with the deadly virus "corona".

This came after a meeting that brought together international experts, in their first activities, following the end of their two-week quarantine on Thursday, with Chinese scholars and specialists.

Their mission in Wuhan, China, where it is believed that the pandemic appeared for the first time in the world at the end of the year 2019, will last for two weeks.

It is expected that among the activities of the WHO experts will be to visit laboratories, such as the Wuhan laboratory for virology, markets, and hospitals, and to talk with witnesses.

The emergence of the first infections in the region with the aim of identifying the first source of the Coronavirus.

An expert of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Wuhan said, "the success of the mission and reaching the origin of the epicenter of the  pandemic depends on access to the sources associated with it."

The WHO team made a statement that reflects the concerns of these experts that Beijing will not allow them to obtain all the information they aspire to, especially in light of the politicization of this health disaster that has turned into one of the tools of global geopolitical competition.

"Supporting China" remains the key to the success of the epidemic investigation mission, according to WHO experts.

Chairman of the Chinese National Health Commission Ma Xiaowei discussed cooperation on tracing the origins of the Coronavirus with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom in a phone call on Wednesday.

According to a statement released on the NHC website on Thursday, the two men also exchanged views on assessing the prevention and response to infectious diseases.

A team led by the WHO investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic left the quarantine hotel today to begin fieldwork, two weeks after its arrival in Wuhan, China.

The team of scientists was quarantined after arriving in Wuhan, where the virus appeared in late 2019.